Chevrolet, Forty Years Later

5 comments:

I saw ZZ Top a few years before this, at Cole Field House. They were the opening act for Leon Russell. I always joked that I saw them before they had beards. As it turns out, they might have had beards, but from the nosebleed seats I couldn't tell.

They came to Roswell, New Mexico... the local YMCA just before they released their first album, Rio Grande Mud. None of us had ever heard of them before, but the charge at the door was six bucks!! And maybe twenty of us, all together, were standing around trying to figure out why we should part with a personal fortune. ZZ Top came outside and asked us, "What in the hell are ya'll doing out here?" We were really embarrassed and were standing there trying to avoid eye contact. One of them yelled and pointed to the door... "Gwan... Git In There!!" They let us in for free. We all shuffled in like miserable little children and when we were assembled in front of the stage he said, "We're ZZ Top and were gonna rock yer asses!!" And that's just what they did. They played as well that night as they have ever since. We were ashamed and humiliated but also we were in deep shock and astonishment. All of us pathetic Beevis and Buttheads snortled in unison and thought these guys just might have a future.

Oh jeez. There are some things Rock 'n Roll that rarely get over on studio tracks. Like the kind of loud, distorted guitar tone in this clip. That would melt my sixteen-year old heart, if I still had it. And my sixteen year old heart was a punk rocker.

Never saw ZZ Top live, and I liked them but never loved them. But I know from experience there are some bands that are better live than anything they lay down in the studio & if ZZ kept it up like that then I missed out.

Sorta reminds me of this clip from the James Gang, I'm guessing it was a "live in studio" session as it differs from the radio version you hear - and it's way more rough, loud, and excellent:

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I lost my job making glass eyes for merry-go-round horses back in my youth. I decided to become a mercenary commando soldier, you know, hired gun, but unwisely chose the Salvation Army as my outfit. I never got to kill anybody, and I've got tinnitus in my right ear from the bell now.